Suicide bomb blasts hit wedding near Iraq's Tikrit

Suicide bomb explosions target wedding ceremony in a village near the Iraqi city of Tikrit, officials say.

09 Mar 2017 00:14 GMT

At least 26 people have been killed in suicide bomb explosions at a wedding party in a village near the Iraqi city of Tikrit, medical and security sources have told Al Jazeera.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Wednesday's attack in Hajjaj village, located 20km north of Tikrit.

Security forces cordoned off the area and imposed a wider curfew for fear of more attackers.

A police source told Reuters that two blasts hit the wedding and two more targeted security forces at the scene shortly afterwards. There were ongoing clashes between security forces and fighters in the area, he said.

Iraqi security forces retook Tikritfrom Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant - ISIL, also known as ISIS - in April 2015.

In November, ISIL bomb attacks hit Tikrit, north of the capital, Baghdad, in an apparent diversionary assault as Iraqi forces drove back the armed group's fighters in their stronghold of Mosul.